One of the most important museum complexes in the world, it is divided into numerous splendidly arranged sections containing masterpieces by the greatest artists, collected or commissioned by Popes down through the centuries. At the end is the Sistine Chapel, in which the recent restoration has bought to light the original colors of the vault and Michelangelo’s Last Judgement, darkened by time.Viale Vaticanophone 06 69 88 49 47fax 06 69 88 50 61Internet: www.vatican.vaE-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

HoursJanuary, February, November and December 10.00 – 13.45, last admission 12.30. Sun closed.

From March to October 10.00 – 16.45 (last admission 15.20), Sat 10.00-14.45, last admission 13.30.Sun closed.

Closed January 1st and 6th , February 11th, March 19th , Easter Monday, May 1st , June 29th , August 15th and 16th , November 1st, December 8th, 25th and 26th and on other religious holidays.

The site of the Forum was a marshy and unhealthy valley which lay roughly at the centre of a circle of hills upon which grew small villages. Their inhabitants used the valley as a burial ground. In the VII cent b.C., under the Etruscan king Tarquin the Elder, the stagnant water in the Forum was drained into the Tiber through a channel which was to become the great Sewer Cloaca Maxima, it was paved and became a real square at the centre of a town. The buildings we see today in the Forum do not date back to the same period and were not discovered at the same time.

The most spectacular of Rome’s fountains, immortalised by Anita Ekberg ‘s midnight dip in Fellini’s classic film “La dolce vita” (The Sweet Life). The fountain was designed to show off the acqueduct of the Acqua Vergine built by Marco Vipsiano Agrippa in 19 b.C. to supply water to the thermal baths which he built close to the Pantheon. The water was named Vergin after the legend telling of a young girl who showed the original spring to a group of thirsty Roman soldiers. The first fountain to take the waters of the Acqua Vergine was built in 1453 for pope Nicholas V, designed by Giovan Battista Alberti in the spot called “of the Trejo” and through the years it took the name of Trevi.

The Flavian Amphitheatre, better known as the Colosseum, is probably the most famous monument in the world: this elliptical colossal construction, with a height of 48mt, has impressed and fascinated men of all Ages. It was with no doubt the most favourite place by the Romans, who came to prefer above all other entertainment the slaughter of men armed to kill and be killed for their amusement.

The amphitheatre consisted of four floors. The first floor was 11,50mt high adorned by halfcolumns of the Doric order.

The first circus used for chariot races lying in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills is said to have been built by king Tarquinius Priscus even if there are testimonies of similar races held at the time of Romulus. The track was originally bordered by banks of wooden seats. Later the starting stalls (carceres), the spina, which divided the racecourse, and stone seats were added to the older structure.

Hadrian had it built as a mausoleum for himself and his family. In order to have an easy access to this sepulchre from the area of Campo Marzio a bridge was built crossing the Tiber river, the Elio Bridge, which was inaugurated in 134 A.D. The construction of the mausoleum was completed after the death of Hadrian (138 A. D.), in 139 A. D., by Antoninus Pius: immediately after his death Hadrian was buried in another place at Pozzuoli (near Naples).

According to tradition it was founded by the emperor Constantine in 320 using one large chamber of the Sessorian Palace to house the relics brought by his mother Helen from Jerusalem. After the edict of Milan which in 313 declared freedom of worship even to Christians, Rome became the new capital of Christianity.